Will Santa deliver ebooks?

ALSC Blog readers who have also been following the story of library ebooks may not be surprised to find out that Santa has been having trouble negotiating for electronic content, too. Publishers developing delivery models for the digital age are questioning the role of Santa and his sleigh.

“The feeling in the industry is that every book delivered by Santa is a lost sale for us,” said one publishing executive, speaking off the record out of loyalty to her children.

With Christmas just two days away, Santa is spending less time in the workshop and more time with the lawyer-elves, arguing that children who receive books in their stocking will inevitably buy more books, and assuaging privacy advocates’ fears that Amazon might gain access to the Naughty/Nice List through children’s Kindles.

As of this writing it is unclear which, if any, houses will allow their books to fill the e-readers and tablets to be delivered Monday night. Penguin, in particular, seems to be questioning whether they belong at the North Pole.

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One comment

Bryan Bangs

It was only a couple of years ago when ereaders went from being obscure and expensive to entering the mainstream. I bought a few in succession and didn’t like any of them. It’s a matter of taste but the “e-ink” of the old Kindle, Sony, and Nook struck me as dull and lifeless. Each gathered dust on my bookshelf.